Building



June 18, 1940.

BUILDING W. S. RUGG ET AL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 12 halter-45 INVENTORS n18, 1940 w. s. we ET AL 2,205,109

BUILDING Original Filed May 8, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 20 INVENTORS 14 211161 45. Ru cfi Patented June 18, 1940 BUILDING Walters. Rugg,Pittsburgh, and Henry D. James,

Edgewood, Pa; Original application May s, 1937, Serial No.

141,438. Divided and this application November 30, 1937, Serial No.177,262

7 Claims.

This application-is a division of application Serial No. 141,438, filedMay 8, 1937 for Building units and buildings.

The invention relates to standardized building units and buildingserected by an assembly of such building units. I

Heretofore many proposals have been made for speeding the erection ofbuildings, but usually the result has been a factory made frame to whichthe well known building materials are attached in the usual manner.erected in this way were permanent until their purpose had been servedand the wreckers arrived.

The object of the invention is to provide standardized building unitsthat may be utilized in erecting a building of substantially anypredetermined rectangular shape and size.

A further object of the invention is to provide standardized buildingunits that may be utilized with great facility in erecting a buildingand which may be removed from the building with equal facility withoutdamage to the members, making it possible to use them in the samestructure on-another site or in another structure.

Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious and, in part,appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly isdisclosed in the accompanying drawings andcomprises the features of construction, combination of elements, andarrangement of parts which willbe exemplified in the structurehereinafter set forth and the scope of which will be indicated in theclaims.

For a fuller understanding of the objects of the invention, referencemay be had to the fol.- lowing detailed-description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in perspective,showing a portion of a building embodying the features of thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a view, partly in section and partly in side elevation,showing how the frames for the side walls are mountedon the crossbeamsof any floor. j

Fig. 3 is a view in vertical section through a portion of a room showinghow the inside finish wall and ceiling are held in position and how thecorners are finished. i

Fig. 4 is a view in transverse section of a portion of a room showinghow the walls are held in position and how the corners'are finished.

Fig. 5 is a view, partly in section and partly in side elevation, withportions broken away to show how a partition may be run transversely ofthe beams for the making of a room.

The buildings Referring now to the drawings and Fig. 1 in (not shown)since this is common practice in the art. The girts in this particularembodiment of the invention are I-beams, the size of which will dependon the conditions to be met in the building to be erected.

The floor structure H is carried by the girts. As illustrated, the floorstructure ll comprises a plurality of I-beams [2 which extend from girtto girt and a plurality of short I-beams I 3 extending from a side girtto a beam. In this particular floor structure the beams I 2 and I3 areI-beams with a portion of the upper flange cut away at the ends forminga T-part, the function of which will appear hereinafter. The beams l2and I3 will be designed especially for the conditions under which theyare to be utilized as in the case of the girts.

A plurality of floor sections M are disposed on the beams 12 and I3 asshown in Fig. 1. The construction of the floor section may vary greatlydepending upon the conditions to be met. The particular floor sectionsillustrated comprise bottom'and toplayer's with insulation between thelayers. One type of floor unit that has been found to be quitesatisfactory embodiestop and bottom layers of Masonite with a suitableinsulating material such as cork interposed between the Masonite layersand the whole glued into a solid mass. However, many other differenttypes of floors may be used successfully.

In the design of a building, standard outside wall frames l5 of anypredetermined size and standard partition frames I 6 of some suitablesize selected to meet the requirements for strength are utilized. Thesize of the partition frames 16- and the outside wall frames will be sorelated to'one another as to facilitate erection. A stand- .ard ofmeasurement for relating the frames can readily be determined by anarchitect or fabricatorof such frames.

The manner of mounting the frames [5 on the I-beams I2 is best showninFig. 2. As illustrated, the lower flange of I-beams l2 slopesdownwardly as it extends outwardly from the web 12. In order to give'the lower edges of the frames a proper bearing surface, wedges l1, lowerfaces of which conform in shape generally to the Web of the I-beam, aredisposed below the frames. These Wedges are preferably made of steel.

The outside wall frames may be fabricated in any suitable manner wellknown in the steel industry. Frames found to be satisfactory have beenfabricated from two-inch angle bars which are welded together at thejoints. A detailed description of the frame is not necessary, since itis clearly illustrated in Fig. l and may be made of suitable dimensionsin accordance with the well-known practice of the art. The partitionframes may be fabricated in the same manner.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the partitions l6 are made in complementaryhalves, that is, the half 20 is the complement of the half 2!, and whenthe two are tied together as illustrated they make up a partition ofpredetermined thickness. For

most purposes, the partitions will be made about four inches thick. Thecomplementary halves of the partition frame are made from angle membersin any well known manner such as by welding the angle members togetherto give a frame structure of any predetermined size.

As shown in Fig. 5, the portion 20 of the partition frame 46 is providedwith inwardly extending angle plates 23, disposed at the top and bottom.The portion 2! of the frame is provided with top and bottom angle plates25 similar in shape to the angle plates 23 carried by the portion 28.Then the partition frames are constructed in this manner, they may bereadily secured to any I-beams such as l2.

The material employed for the finishing of the inside of the buildingwill be selected to meet the purposes for which the building has beenerected. For houses a very satis actory finish is the well knownplywood. In preparing the plywood for mounting, it will be made insections G0 which will be predetermined to fit the frame structure. Inthe frame structure described as an embodiment of this invention, theroom height will be about 8 feet. This necessitates the making of theinside-wall finish-sections 40 somewhat shorter than the building unitsFurther, the overall height of the three wall sections applied to theinside of one wall frame will be reduced by the depth of the baseboardM. The width of the inside finish section M] will be designed to give asymmetrical appearance.

In order to provide for mounting the wall finish sections with facility,they are provided with cleats Q2 which engage the angle members of thewall frames l5 as best shown in Fig. t. These cleats 42 may be of anysuitable material and are wedge shaped so that, if they do not fitexactly, they may be forced a short distance to give a tight fit. By theproper locating of the cleats 52. provision may be made for mountingthefinish sections 41' even if they do not conform in width to the frames l5.

The keys 4? may be inserted into the stirrups 66 as the finish sections59 are applied from the bottom upwardly. The last key may be inserted bygaining access through the open top of the frame as will readily be seenby reference to .Fig. 1.

Referring now to Fig. 4, assuming that the wall section 53 is placed inposition in the first corner, then when the finish section 44 is placedin position the tongue 45 overlaps the tongue 4?- of the unit 43. Thecleat 42 carried by the wall finish section 44 engages the angle memberof the wall frame I5 and locks the outer edge of the finish section 43in position. The next finish section mounted will engage the outer edgeof the finish section M- and the cleat carried by it will engage theangle member of the frame l5, and thus the finish unit 44 will beretained in position. In this manner all the finish units except thelast one may be held in position. At the next corner the finish sections58 may be provided with stirrups 46 and keys M for attaching thesections to the wall frames.

At the corner a strip such as 49 is provided which is a width slightlyless than the space to be filled. It is pressed into position to engagethe tongue provided on the finish section an. Then a corner finish strip5| carrying a spring member 52 is pressed into position.

As shown, the spring member 52 is attached to the corner finish strip 5|by countersinking and nailing. When the corner finish strip is mounted,it fits tightly against the finish strips of the meeting walls. Ittherefore gives a finished appearance.

It will be readily appreciated that if desired beading may be mountedover the joints of the finish sections. However, this will he a matterof choice and is not a part of this invention. When plywood is employed,the finish may be improved by staining or painting.

The problem of mounting the ceiling is much the same as the mounting ofthe side walls. The ceiling finish is prepared in sections and will bedesigned to conform to the frame structure. The ceiling sections areprovided with cleats 53 shaped to engage the flanges of the I-beams.Assuming that the section 54 has been mounted by hooking its cleat 53 toa flange of an I-beam, then a ceiling section 55 having a tongue 55which engages the tongue 5! provided on the section 54 is pressed intoposition as illustrated, the cleats '53 engaging the flange of theI-beam i2. one edge of the finish section is held in position by meansof its cleat 53 while the other edge is engaged by the next adjacentceiling section and so all the units are locked to the ceiling framestructure.

At the corners blocks 58 and 59 which loosely fit between the wallsection 68 and the ceiling section 6| are provided. These blocks arestepped to engage the tongues provided on the wall and ceiling finishsections (50 and BI. A wedge 62 is driven between the blocks 58 and 59spreading them to tightly press the wall and ceiling sections and GIinto position.

After all the blocks have been mounted and wedged apart as illustrated,a finish strip 63 is nailed to the blocks. In this particularillustration of the invention a plain strip nailed to the blocks withfinish nails is provided. If desired, the ornamental finish strip may beemployed.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction, anddifferent embodiments of the invention may be made without departingfrom the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a building structure. in combination, a

Thus

ceiling finish and the wall finish position, and a trim disposed betweenthe ceiling and wall, said trim serving to unite the wall and ceiling topresent a good appearance.

2. In a building structure, in combination, a foundation, a framecarried by the foundation, a wall finish disposed on the frame, the Wallfinish comprising panels, means provided on the panels for attachingthem to the frame, the last panel on one wall extending within apredetermined distance of the other wall, a strip of finish materialhaving a horizontal dimension less than the distance between the paneland the wall disposed in position, the horizontal dimension being lessthan the distance between the last panel and the wall to facilitatemounting of the strip, a second strip disposed between the last panel onthe other wall and the first strip, this second strip having ahorizontal dimension less than the distance between the panel and thefirst strip, and means disposed between the strips for forcing them intoengagement with the wall panels whereby they are retained in positionand a vertical trim strip disposed over the other strips, and meansextending between said first strips for retaining the vertical trimstrip in position.

3. In a building structure, in combination, a foundation, a framecarried by the foundation, the frame comprising a plurality of standardframe units, wall panels for mounting on the frame, the wall panelshaving a horizontal dimension having a predetermined relation to thehorizontal dimension of the standard frame units whereby the panelsmounted on one wall extend within a predetermined distance of themeeting wall, a vertical strip having a running horizontal dimensionslightly less than the distance between the panel and the meeting walldisposed between the meeting wall and the edge of the panel, means forpressing the strip into tight engagement with the panel, a second stripdisposed between the first strip and the panel on the other wall, thestrip having a running horizontal dimension slightly less than thedistance between the panel and the first mounted strip, a vertical trimmemher, and a fastening member carried by the vertical trim strip.

4. In a building structure, in combination, a frame provided withvertical members and beams, ceiling panels suspended from the beams,cleats provided on one side of each ceiling panel for engaging a beam,the side of the ceiling panel on which the cleats are provided beingshaped to receive and carry the next adjacent panel, wall panels, meansprovided on the wall panels for mounting them on the vertical members, ablock structure shaped to receive the ceiling panel and to engage thewall panel disposed between said panels, and means for actuating theblock I structure to force the wall and ceiling panels into position anda finish strip mounted on the block structure extending between the walland ceiling panels.

5. In a building structure, in combination, a foundation, a framecarried by the foundation, beams carried by the frame, ceiling panels,cleats provided on the ceiling panels, the cleats being shaped to engagethe beams, the side of the ceiling panel carrying the cleat being shapedto receive the next adjacent panel to carry it, and a movable block forsupporting the outer edge of the last ceiling panel, and means forforcing the block and panel into position.

6. In a building structure, in combination, a foundation, a framecarried by the foundation, beams carried by the frame, wall panelscarried by the frame structure, ceiling panels, cleats provided on theceiling panels, said cleats being shaped to engage the beams, the sideof the ceiling panel carrying the cleats being shaped to receive andcarry the next adjacent panel, blocks supported by the wall panels forcarrying the outer edge of the last ceiling panel, means for utilizingthe blocks for forcing the panel into a predetermined position, andfinish strips attached to the blocks cooperative with the ceiling andwall panels to give a finished appearance.

'7. In a building structure, in combination, a foundation, a framecarried by the foundation, a beam structure carried by the frame, wallpanels, stirrups provided on the Wall panels, keys for mounting in thestirrups to engage the frame to draw the panels tightly into position,ceiling panels, cleats provided on the ceiling panels, the cleats beingshaped to, engage the beams, the edge of the ceiling panel to which thecleats are attached being shaped to receive the next adjacent panel tosupport it, blocks disposed between the wall panels and ceiling panelsfor supporting the last ceiling panel, means provided in conjunctionwith said blocks for wedging said ceiling panels and wall panels intoposition, and a finish strip carried by the blocks cooperative with thewall and ceiling panels to give a finished appearance.

WALTER S. RUGG. HENRY D. JAMES.

